Greenfield High School - Evergreen / Exponent Yearbook (Greenfield, MA)

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THE EXPONENT 7 nor great life problems to solve, but we have had conditions such as are natural to youth, and it would be a fair question to ask ourselves if we have lived up to this standard of decent life and of fair and square work. If so, we have indeed been successful. Many of us will go to colleges and universities where we shall be forced to compete with others who have succeeded in their high school careers, thus making the standard of scholarship higher. Others may go directly into practical affairs of life where they, too, must compete with those who have worked their way by experience. Let us therefore, whether we go directly into practical work or to higher institutions of learning, endeavor so to conduct ourselves that credit may flow out to our alma mater, the Greenfield High School, where for four years we all were given the oppor¬ tunity to lay a solid foundation for future success. ROBERT H. ALBERTI ’22. CLASS SONG Tune: Just Before the Battle. I. Now our high school days are ended And commencement time is here. We have had our fun together And we’ve shared our doubts and fears. Now has come the time of parting Still we love to gather here To voice in song our praise to you Dear old class of ’22. CHORUS G. H. S. we hate to leave you, And our friends and classmates true But oh! we’ll not forget you ever G. H. S. we’re all for you. II. As we journey on life’s pathway Oft our thoughts will turn to you. One and all we are united By the purple and the gold. Though our paths will widely sever, Pleasant memories we will hold Of our days in Greenfield High School ’Neath the purple and the gold. MARION L. WILLIAMS ’22. IVY ORATION Progress of World Government “In days of old when knights were bold,” then brawls and fighting and all sorts of troubles, held their sway. If a poor man had a grievance, it was synony¬ mous with saying he had a fight. If a rich man had a fight, it was synonymous with saying that there was war. That is, if two feudal barons had any sort of petty quarrel, they had it in their power to say, “Let there be war!” and there would be war. At first the quarrel would be a small feud, but before it was settled it usually embroiled a whole nation in intestine strife. While all these conditions were true of the barons, among lesser individuals innumerable small fights took place every night in the towns and hamlets. Every morn¬ ing were found strewn about the streets and alley- ways of London, a few dead bodies. Crime was ripe in those days, and why? Because every man was his own judge and court and he could settle his disputes out of hand, unreproved, unrestricted and unpunished. Students of history will find that at this period of the world’s development, commoners were prac¬ tically serfs and the wealth belonged to a few nobles so called, whose business, pleasure and whole life was war. Nations were disorganized and poverty stricken and the outlook for the world looked dark indeed. Governments were absolute monarchies but the monarch did not govern ex¬ cept in rare cases. They and their courts spent the money they extorted from the completely sub¬ jugated people, in the wildest and most senseless extravagances. Indeed anyone living in this comparatively sensi¬ ble age, when he reads the story of the continuous strife the world has gone through, wonders if the nations of the earth were not governed by a set of fighting maniacs. One asks the reason for all this madness. He will find the only answer to his query in this: That the governments of the world did not function in the three ways a government should function, that is in the making, interpret¬ ing and executing of its laws. Any one may perceive, with a little reflection, that what was true in a nation under the feudal system, is perfectly applicable in a lai’ger sense to the condition of the nations of the world today. Then there were the barons’ wars; now there is the world war. It is an axiomatic truth that the more efficiently a government performs these,— its three functions, the better is the condition of all those who come under its administration. If this form of government worked, and it has worked, in terms of one nation, why would it not be just as successful in terms of the world.

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6 THE EXPONENT War. After any war the foremost thought in men’s minds is reconstruction. Look at Northern France —not only buildings and farms destroyed and forests demolished, but the soil itself cut through by trenches and broken up by shells and bombs. Houses must be rebuilt, forest grounds cleared and replanted and the whole contour of the land re¬ modeled. What a vast field for architects, ar¬ tisans, foresters, farmers, yea, even common laborers. Have you a Commercial education? When did the history of the world offer a more splendid op¬ portunity for the use of your specific talents? Is not the world’s trade practically at a standstill? Is not the financial condition of almost all the peo¬ ples of the earth in greater confusion than it would be possible for the mind of man to depict without the actual facts visible? But why look abroad? Are not the conditions in our own country calling out their need of will¬ ing workers? Has our country ever experienced a greater need for wise regulations of social and economical problems and especially for reform in politics than at the present time? Consider the crime waves encircling the country. Today one cannot pick up a newspaper without seeing ac¬ counts (that being so common cease to be startl¬ ing) of robberies, holdups, suicides, and murders. The ideas of conservation laid down and put into action by such men as Theodore Roosevelt, of pre¬ serving our natural resources—our forests, our fisheries, our mines and oil wells—are endangered under the present administration. Those forests taken from public sale by former champions of the conservation policy to be made into national parks and federal forest reservations are now in danger of reverting to their former condition as lands for public sale, unless public opinion in opposition rises to such a degree as to make such a thing im¬ possible. The class of 1922 is fortunate in living at a time when everyone has a chance, when the world is made smaller and civilization has progressed by many useful inventions, the automobile, the tele¬ phone, the electric light, the telegraph, the wire¬ less, and finally the radiophone. Less than a cen¬ tury ago none of these utilities existed. Think of living at a time when none of these conveniences now so common to us were even conceived of. Think of the time taken then in crossing our con¬ tinent contrasted with the present speed of our swift twentieth century locomotive. Think of the slow-going mail correspondence as compared with the almost instantaneous communication of the modern radiophone. Then men did not hear the human voice issue mysteriously from the encircling atmosphere. Then men only dreamed of flights through the air. Again, it is our good fortune to be living in a period of history when those willing to work may succeed. In all manner of service men set a goal towards which they are ever striving, even though their exalted ideals must forbid its attainment. But with only a few exceptions, everyone aspires to s ucceed. According to my way of thinking there are two different types of people who succeed. One con¬ sists of those who have that creative power called genius, which enables them to do that which no one else has the power to do; the other, of those who have only ordinary qualities but who have de¬ veloped these qualities to an extraordinary degree. The ability to succeed is developed in this latter type of man through the instruction and education received in the schools. His success may be ob¬ tained by doing what a multitude of people-can do but what the great majority does not do. Common sense plays an important part in suc¬ cess. If every one possessed thi;i element of char¬ acter, industries would grow, people would be hap¬ pier and more contented, and the government would prosper. Any thinking person can easily see that chance also is an aid in acquiring a certain type of suc¬ cess. This is conspicuous or spectacular success. Few people succeed without taking advantage of opportunities, which arise, and it almost seems as if opportunities were imperative for success. If there is no war there can develop no great general; if no great political occasion arises there can be no great statesman. Take for example the case of a man, honored and revered by all American peo¬ ple, Abraham Lincoln. Everyone will admit that he was a success, but if there had been no war nor exceptional conditions to meet, his name would have been remembered but not immortalized. Crises are necessary that great qualities may de¬ velop. Some man may be able to specialize—to do just one thing well—and as a rule nothing else. Such a one would succeed, of course, only in those crises for which his powers fit him. True success, however, depends not on the posi¬ tion you hold but on the way you deport yourself in that position; nor can it be said that success invariably depends upon outward conditions and opportunities, for if a man lives a decent life, works fairly and squarely, so that his friends and dependents are better for his having lived, surely he is a success. Fellow students, we have not during our four years of high school life had great crises to face

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8 THE EXPONENT Now the question comes up, what was the trou¬ ble with governments? What was it they did or did not do? Which of the three sides of govern¬ ment was lacking? It was the judiciary. The trial by jury is a comparatively recent innovation in the history of this world. Nowadays another and greater question arises. What is the trouble with international affairs? Why do we have wars like the recent World War? The answer is practically the same as the answer to the preceding question. The nations of the world today have international laws and punish¬ ments, but it is a compulsory judiciary and arbitra¬ tion system that the world lacks. The national courts have solved many private quarrels between individuals which might have re¬ sulted in duels. They have solved many problems that otherwise would only have been settled by domestic wars. Semi-international courts have ar¬ bitrated questions which would otherwise have resulted in a war between the nations involved. If national and semi-international courts have done all this, why then is it not a logical conclusion, that international laws, backed by an international executive and interpreted in a compulsory interna¬ tional court, would banish war from the earth and improve conditions immeasurably? This condition of world government, without undue subordination of the countries involved, is the ideal towards which many of the greatest minds of the world are striving, and it is inevitably com¬ ing. It is important to stress that statement, “Without undue subordination of the countries in¬ volved,” because no plan is at all feasible that in any way deprives those countries of even a small part of their independence. A world democracy does not appear nearly so Utopian a condition today, as a national democracy did in the time of William the Conqueror. But a national democracy is now an accomplished and highly successful fact. People say now that the world is and forever will be incapable of success¬ ful world democracy, League of Nations, or what¬ ever you wish to call it. In the time of William the Conqueror people would have utterly scoffed at a plan of government like that of the United States today. As the world had to be educated up to a na¬ tional democracy, so will it have to be educated up to a world democracy. The theory may be ideal- tistic and unpractical now, but the trend is in that direction and until it is attained there will be wars. Therefore I say that some plan of world govern¬ ment is bound to come and that the condition of the world will be vastly improved when this final goal is reached. SAM M. CAMERON ’22. IVY SONG Tune: Home Again. Ivy green, Ivy bright, Here we plant you now. And oh, we watch you grow with joy To greet us years from now, When we have older grown and sad With Life’s dread grief and care. And then you’ll greet us once again And all our sorrows share. CHORUS Ivy green, Ivy bright, Here we plant you now. And oh, we watch you grow with joy To greet us years from now. Ivy dear, Ivy true, Always faithful be. We know you’ll never fail to grow And climb these stories three. Dear symbol of success in school And greatness yet to come. You shall a faithful guardian wait To fondly greet us home. CHORUS Ivy dear, Ivy true, Always faithful be. We know you’ll never fail to grow And climb these stories three. BLANCHE E. BRAMAN ’22. HISTORY OF THE CLASS OF 1922 THE SERVICE RECORD OF THE 22nd REGIMENT 1st Year A green and untrained regiment entered the stronghold G. H. S. on Sept. 3, 1918. But—look at us now—brave and dignified soldiers. Our two months’ furlough granted at the Pleasant Street barracks had ended, so we were again ready for active service. A great deal was expected of us. Our country was at war with Germany and men were making names for themselves to be sent down through the ages of history. It was up to us to do our share. So, of course, we felt very important, but were soon shown by the older regi¬ ments that we were not as important as we felt and after all, if it hadn’t been for the new General, who sympathized with us, we would have suffered more from them than we did. Nevertheless, we soon learned to “hold our own.” It wasn’t long before we began to get our bear¬ ings; and to find out what to do now that we were here. A kindhearted soldier from one of the other regiments gave us the hint that the first thing was to elect officers, so we proceeded to do this just as though we had known all the time that it was